Chances Glance
by Mek
Summary: AU, shounen ai. In a world where shinobi are persecuted for their strange abilities, all Naruto wants is to live a normal life. But forced into hiding since infancy with a makeshift family, will he ever be able to? ::ON HIATUS::
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character do not belong to me. I am merely borrowing them for the duration of this story._

Prologue

The years had become turbulent, and war raged across the nations. People were dying, and an uncontrollable famine had begun to spread throughout every land. The people were afraid, and everywhere they turned there was nothing but destruction and death. They screamed for change, for someone to rise up and bring back the peace and prosperity that they felt certain must have once ruled.

And one did rise up... a powerful man, who claimed that the blame for all this wrongness lay with the soldiers who fought, these ninja who were said to have fearsome and almost magical techniques.

Their powers were anathema to the gods, he claimed, and this blight was the punishment for their sins.

And the people rose up as one, determined to rid themselves of these cursed ones, these shinobi with special powers.

Thus began the greatest war of their time.

Shinobi were slaughtered throughout the realms, entire clans massacred. They spared no one in their fear and rage; both newborns and the very old perished at the hands of the mobs. Many attempted to flee, but there were few hiding spots for these special shinobi and their kin.

And from the tattered remains of these various countries, the man who had risen to answer the calls of the people formed a new nation, a joint union of all the various lands. They accepted him with open arms, turning a blind eye to the destruction that had only become worse with this crusade against the shinobi, this holy war that had killed more of them than any war fought previously.

They listened to his every word, believing in his promises of a better life, his promises of salvation.

They listened, and believed.

And around them, the world still crumbled.

**- TBC -**

_Ending Notes_: Notes to follow at the end of Chapter One.


	2. Chapter One

**EDIT**: Changes made to Kankuro's description. I took a guess on the hair color, but then the anime proved me wrong. I feel stupid. Send me an e-mail or message if it looks like I forgot to change any mention of him being blond. Thanks! Also, I did _not_ misspell brunet. 

_Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character do not belong to me. I am merely borrowing them for the duration of this story._

Chapter One

The manor had all of the hallmarks of being abandoned. The surrounding forest had encroached up to the front gates, sneaking past through the holes left by crumbling walls. Weather and wear was obvious around the estate, from the missing and mildewed shingles, to the broken windows, to the creeping vines. The entry doors were broken; one laying down on the ground, the other holding to its last hinge with all of the tenacity of a four year old. Then, suddenly, there was a sound from somewhere within.

It was out of place; a snicker muffled, desperate to hide yet unable to do so. It made its way down hallways; some stuffy from disuse, others water-stained and dirty from where nature snuck in. Yet it disturbed nothing. Then once more, that sound from within. A young man, entering from the back, smiled to hear it and began to walk in its direction.

He disturbed no dust during his trek, it having long since been banished to the cracks. Footsteps were muffled by a well-worn carpet that trailed throughout the manor. The sounds, louder now, were beginning to shape itself to some sort of human pattern. They were more frequent, its source no longer caring to hide as much as it had earlier. The young man, following the trail of sound up three flights of stairs, paused outside a door. There was tarnish on the knob, but only to the edges; the center shone. His sudden grin was mischief, and the sounds on the other side obvious. His hand wrapped around the handle, his body leaning forward unconsciously, and he gently eased the knob through the motions. Then a sudden jerk, hinges screaming, and his voice:

"_There you are!"_

The blond boy, sitting on the floor, jumped up in startlement. His elbow gave way on its descent, and he landed face first on a book displaced from his lap. The young man, a taller brunet, laughed. The boy sat back up, scowling.

"Dammit, Kankuro, stop doing that!"

Kankuro grinned. "You make it too easy, Naruto. What are you doing here, anyway? Iruka wanted us to go weed out the field today."

Naruto groaned. "He's always telling us to weed it out!"

"And I'm always being sent to find you. But Iruka was pretty adamant about it this time, and Gaara backed him up."

"Gah, Gaara _always_ backs him..."

"He also said that if it took me too long to get you, he'd use use you as bait when he goes hunting next."

A moment of silence. Naruto looked longingly at the books lining the bookshelves in the room.

"I guess they'll still be here when I get back," He said sadly.

Kankuro chuckled. "C'mon, it's not getting any earlier."

Naruto picked himself up, and placed the book on a nearby table. Kankuro took a brief look around the room, eyes straying to the huge bay window. The room, though showing the signs of neglect common throughout the huge home, also looked fairly clean. The window was partially boarded up; bookshelves lined nearly all of the wall space. But many of them were bare, and half burnt book covers and ash were inside a dead fireplace. Naruto sighed, giving the room a last once over before following the older blond out.

He trailed after Kankuro, frowning, arms out with his hands threaded behind his head. "This stinks."

Kankuro looked at him over his shoulder. "Oh? You know, we could have been a quarter the way done already."

"But weeding stinks! Why can't I go hunting with Iruka and Gaara?"

"Even Gaara has to weed. And you don't see me complaining about not hunting."

Naruto grumbled, but fell silent.

Kankuro frowned a bit, looking back at the manor for a moment, as they exited through a back door into the overgrown grounds. "I don't see why you keep sneaking back here. It's creepy."

"But the books are awesome! There's all kinds of shinobi stories, and tales of all the other places Iruka talks about! Even stories about the old courts! They're so great! I'm gonna be the greatest shinobi of all time someday!"

Kankuro looked amused. "Will this be before or after the Emperor captures you?"

"Ha!" Naruto looked smug, chest puffing out. "I'll be too skilled for some stupid emperor to catch me! I'll be the best ever!"

Kankuro laughed. "Yeah, whatever. And some day I'll be a king."

Naruto scowled fiercely at him before swiftly marching down the weed infested path. Kankuro shook his head in amusement, briefly looking to a building far in the distance.

-**X**-

'It's been a good year,' the brown haired man thought to himself. His gaze drifted out the window and to the three boys out in the field; behind him a young woman hummed tunelessly. He recognized it as an old tune, one that he had taught her himself; unthinking, he tapped his foot along to the remembered beat. The tinkling of glasses and a sudden whoosh of water told him that she was preparing to bring water out to them. He smiled, as he watched Naruto attempt to sneak up on Kankuro. The older boy, pretending to ignore the younger blond, continued to work up until the last second when he yanked on the young boy's arm, pulling him over and into the dirt. The redhead snapped something at them, but neither looked like they cared. He laughed softly at their antics, hands busy cleaning the dishes he had been cooking with, not as worried as he would have been when both home and land were new and unknown. It had been a long time since anything approaching a threat had been near, and even longer since they had stumbled across the manor and its vast estate. He knew, intellectually, that they were safe. It helped that the redhead had set up some detection traps all along the area and nearby valley in case something should pass near. Yet, he couldn't get away from the feeling that something was approaching. For all that the main house had shown signs that nothing had disturbed it for years, he knew that there was a chance someone else would stumble across it as they had. All he could hope was that it would be someone friendly, and not an enemy.

The young woman nodded at him as she walked out the kitchen door, and he nodded back, eyes straying to her handmade calender. With a start, the man realized that Naruto was going to be fifteen tomorrow. His eyes glazed over, losing himself in recollection. He didn't hear her re-enter the home.

"Thinking again, Iruka?"

Startled, Iruka dropped the dish he had been washing. The blonde-haired girl looked at him in amusement, while he checked to make sure it wasn't broken. She placed the used cups and pitcher on the counter next to him. He frowned, examining the bowl, and shook his head. "I just noticed that Naruto's birthday is tomorrow." Though he found a small chip on the bowl, further examination turned up no cracks, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked at him in surprise, leaning an elbow against the counter. "You've only now noticed? I only stopped Kankuro from making plans because I thought you were planning something on your own."

Iruka frowned. "Kankuro was going to plan something for him?"

She smiled softly, eyes drifting out the window. "Well, yeah, after what was happening this time last year. He figured that since everything was calm we should do something big."

Iruka frowned harder. "I find that surprising, after what Naruto did to him back in May."

She snickered. "Well, he was also hoping to get a little payback."

Iruka smiled, fingers tapping the bowl. He sighed suddenly, and she looked at him curiously. He shrugged. "I just wonder how things would have been without the war. Maybe... maybe this could have been normal. This could have been our lives." He sighed again.

The young woman rolled her eyes. "No use moaning about the what if's, Iruka. Yes, it's horrible, but we get by how we can. Who knows, maybe ten years from now people will stop believing the Emperor and we can live without worrying if someone will try to murder us out in the open."

Sadly, he looked back at her. "Doubtful. There were just too many people willing to believe him. Too many still are. Things have not improved since then."

"But it's not like we can do anything, Iruka, it's not like we can change it. People greater than us have tried and failed," she replied, exasperated.

He shrugged, hands moving once more over the dishes. "I suppose you're right, Temari. I just feel like there's something I could do."

Temari sighed, a concerned frown appearing on her face. "There are a lot of things that could be done, should have been done, but are not." She shook her head at him again. "I swear, you always do this. Can't you just be happy that we're all alive and healthy?"

Iruka sighed. "I know... and I want to be, I really do. But, lately..." He shook his head, eyes becoming distant. "I can't shake the feeling that something big is approaching us. It was like a small itch in the back of my mind a few months ago, but now it is almost as if there are eyes on me wherever I go." He looked at her abruptly, frowning. "Has Gaara found anything at all out there in the valley recently? Or around the manor?"

She searched his face, frown deepening. "No... not really. But he hasn't even really scouted the valley in the past few weeks. Just set up some sensor traps and considered it a done deal. And Naruto's always up in the manor library. I think he would have said something if he had heard anything." She paused as something clicked in her mind. "Is this why you haven't been able to sleep lately?"

He nodded, surprise evident on his features, though it didn't remove the worry etched there. "I thought I had been quiet, but yes."

"Gaara's hearing is a lot sharper at night; I thought you'd remember that." She sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "Why haven't you said anything to us about this?"

Iruka grimaced. "I thought it was silly; I didn't want to worry any of you. All the same, I wish I could just shake it off."

She shrugged. "I'll ask Gaara if he could start doing actual patrols again. He barely sleeps, anyway, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal."

Iruka sighed. "I suppose." He hummed a moment in thought, before using the nearby dishtowel to dry his hands. "Would you mind cooking all of dinner on your own tonight? I want to start hunting early so I can think of something for Naruto tomorrow."

Temari nodded, and smiled. "It's not like you ever do the hard parts anyway."

-**X**-

"Kankuro! _Kankuro!"_

The older brunet boy cupped his right hand over his eyes as he looked to where the short boy was shouting.

The afternoon sun was beating down upon them fiercely. It was a clear sky, though cooler winds could be felt. Not enough for it to be obvious, but enough to give some relief to the three boys tilling and weeding the field. It was a small field, near their home, and it grew just enough for them. All of what they ate came from what they could grow and what they could hunt. It had been hard for them the previous winter, as they had arrived only a few months before the season began. They had surprisingly been able to grow a small amount, but if not for Iruka's woodland know-how and Gaara's uncanny ability to flush out game from anywhere, they would have starved to death.

So they had tilled and planted early in the Spring, and worked the fields nearly everyday. Sometime in the afternoon, Iruka would emerge from the home, and take Gaara with him to hunt for food. Kankuro would often remain behind to help Naruto learn how to fight better, and Temari would keep an eye on both the two sparring boys, and the beginning part of dinner. Occasionally she would shout suggestions from the kitchen.

It still irked Naruto that their main cook was a far better fighter than he.

"What?" Kankuro shouted back.

"Do you think Iruka would let me go hunting with him today? I mean, I'm gonna be fifteen tomorrow, right? So I should get to go hunting!"

Nearby, Kankuro could hear his red-haired brother snort. Mentally, he agreed with Gaara: not likely. Not with him continually shirking his field duties to read the books in the manor library.

"Go back to working, Naruto! This field isn't going to get done on its own! Just wait for Iruka to come out, and ask him yourself!"

Naruto's groan of disappointment could probably be heard down to the valley, the older boy thought to himself with a smile. It was nice, living like this. It was almost as if they had been here ten years instead of only one.

'_I could live like this the rest of my life_,' he thought to himself. But would any of them really be happy? He shook himself to rid him of that thought. In doing so, he caught sight of Gaara, two rows over, and had a sudden idea.

"Gaara!" he stage whispered to his brother, trying to catch his eye. A loud grunt was his only answer.

"See if you and Iruka can flush out some rabbit for tomorrow's dinner. Maybe Naruto won't take it so hard, then."

Gaara looked up then at Kankuro. He looked vaguely annoyed, but nodded anyway.

"_Oi!!_ What are you two talking about?!"

"About how Temari's gonna kick your ass for the rest of your life!" Kankuro gleefully shouted back at Naruto.

"_HEY!"_

Snickering to himself, Kankuro went back to work. He couldn't hear Naruto, but he was certain the boy was thinking of all the ways he'd try to kick his ass later. Kankuro snorted. Like he even could.

The boys had just finished with their task when Iruka emerged from the home, and signaled Gaara over to him. Naruto jumped up, and asked him if he could go, but the brown-haired man would not let him.

"You still can't move silently," he said, and Naruto wilted. Gaara gave him a look that could, debatably, be called sympathetic before following Iruka to the shed that housed their hunting gear.

Kankuro walked up to the depressed young man, and slapped him on the back. "Don't worry too much, we're working on it. And you're getting better, so I'm sure he'll let you soon."

"But probably not before winter sets in..." Naruto whined. Kankuro rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's true," he said companionably. "I mean, after all, you need to kick _my_ ass _first_."

With an offended squawk, Naruto launched himself at Kankuro.

-**X**-

The rays of a dying sun were filtering through the windows when Iruka walked into the dining room from the kitchen. Temari looked up from placing a big pot on the table when he entered.

"Have a hard time finding anything today? You guys were out longer than usual," she said. When she noticed her brother hadn't followed the tall brunette inside, she sent a questioning look at Iruka. "And where's Gaara?"

"The hunt wasn't any more difficult than normal," Iruka replied. "But when we ended up near the manor, Gaara noticed a few of the trigger traps he had surrounding it were disabled, and decided to check up on the rest. He said he was going to scout the valley and check the ones he had down there while he was at it." He chuckled. "I'm pretty sure it was Naruto, but you know how Gaara gets. So I had to bring the animals back and clean them off myself. It took longer than I thought it would, though. The rabbits were messy."

"Rabbits?" Temari said, surprised. She smiled. "That should please Naruto. He really likes rabbit."

Iruka chuckled. "Gaara was fairly insistent we find rabbit. Mumbled something about Kankuro demanding it."

Temari shook her head. Then she snapped her fingers. "That reminds me. I told Naruto that we'd go fishing for crayfish tonight down at the river. He was pretty disappointed he couldn't go hunting today, and, well, his birthday is tomorrow."

Iruka hummed. "That should be fine, but don't start out too late. The river isn't that close, and it's going to be cold." He looked around. "Where are the boys, anyway? I would have thought they'd be back in by now."

Temari laughed ruefully. "Kankuro riled up Naruto pretty good right after you two left, and Naruto shouted that he wouldn't stop fighting Kankuro until he managed to floor him. They were still at it last time I looked."

Iruka smiled, rueful. "I'm starting to wonder if Gaara might be a better choice to spar with Naruto. I wish Kankuro wouldn't tease him so much. It's no wonder he can't move silently yet!" He shook his head. "Ah, well. I suppose I'll just have to talk with him. Did you need any help?"

She nodded. "Could you set the table for me? The food is done, and I've just started bringing out the dishes."

They worked together in companionable silence. Iruka was walking into the kitchen to grab the last dish for Temari when he heard two pairs of voices closing in from outside.

"We're back!" Naruto shouted from the kitchen door, grinning from ear to ear. He looked like he had been rolling around in mud for hours. Kankuro, stepping up behind him, looked only a little better.

"Go back outside and wash up!" Iruka told him before either of them could step inside.

"But it's _cold_!" Naruto whined.

"Not as cold as it's going to be at the river tonight. Unless you don't want to go?" Iruka asked him in amusement.

Naruto gaped in horror. "No! I'll go get cleaned up now!"

The boy ran off, and Iruka looked pointedly at the laughing Kankuro.

"So did he finally knock you down?"

Kankuro scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "So, yeah, I should go wash up too."

Iruka chuckled at his retreating back, before picking up a small dish near the stove.

"I can't believe how filthy they were," he said, shaking his head as he walked back into the dinning room. The light that had been drifting in from outside was now nearly non-existent, and Temari was busy lighting the lamps.

She laughed softly at his comment, turning to face him. "They usually are. You would think that they would understand the rules by now."

Iruka shrugged, placing the dish on the table. "Not even after a year apparently." He sighed, frowning. "I wonder what's taking Gaara so long. I didn't think he had that many traps."

She frowned at him. "Well, it's not exactly a short trip to the valley. And who knows how many he's actually set up?"

Iruka nodded reluctantly. "That's true. I'm just... I don't know." He paused. "I almost don't want you to take Naruto out tonight. I think I'd feel better knowing he was close to home, and the river is a distance."

She tapped her lips with a finger, before stopping to speak. "Well, I'll be with him. And it's not like we know anything is roaming around here, Iruka. Don't let your paranoia get to you."

Iruka frowned at her, but before he could reply, they heard a door open in the front and then footsteps on the stairs; muffled laughter filtered down, identifying the boys. Temari looked in that direction. "Listen, why don't I take him after Gaara returns? He'll have found nothing, and you won't have to worry while we're gone. Okay?"

He nodded, reluctant.

"_Food!"_

Both rolled their eyes as Naruto's enthusiastic shout preceded him into the room.

"Are you clean?" Temari shouted back just before both boys entered the room. The young blond stuck his tongue out at her, as he sat down at the table. Kankuro, sitting down next to him, caught it and held it for a moment while Naruto tried to pry his fingers off of it. He pouted after Kankuro let go, while the other three laughed. He looked at his guardian, eyes asking for vengeance. Iruka shook his head, assuming a look of mock seriousness.

"You are going to be fifteen years old tomorrow, young man, you need to start acting like it."

Naruto glared at Kankuro, who was doing a poor job at hiding his smirk. "But Iruka! Kankuro is 17, and _he_ doesn't act like it."

"He has a point," Temari conceded, smiling slightly. She and Iruka sat down at the table.

"Well, that's because Gaara wants to act older than 16," Kankuro said, dishing out vegetables to himself. "Since he wants to act my age, I get to act his age."

"But... but... that's not _fair!"_

"Naruto, stop whining. Kankuro, please, stop teasing him," Iruka said, carving out venison. "Naruto, would you please pass your plate over?"

The boy made a face as he passed his plate over. "Can we eat something else for once? Like bear? Or rabbit! We haven't had rabbit in a long time!"

"But that is rabbit, Naruto, can't you tell?" Kankuro said, winking at Temari. She rolled her eyes at him, but didn't stop smiling.

"No it isn't! It's too big!"

"It's a giant rabbit Gaara caught earlier today," he said. Temari covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

"_Really?!_" Big blue eyes looked at him in awed wonder. Iruka wanted to smack Kankuro.

"No, it isn't. Don't listen to him; giant rabbits do not exist. Honestly, Kankuro," Iruka said, frowning at him. "You should know better." He passed the plate back to Naruto, pilled high with both meat and vegetables. Naruto looked depressed at the sight of it.

"Are you _sure_?" he asked wistfully.

Kankuro chuckled. "Hey, cheer up little man - maybe Gaara caught some rabbit today. We could have it for your birthday dinner tomorrow! How's that sound?"

"Iruka, Iruka did you guys catch any rabbit today?!" Smiling, Iruka nodded. Naruto made a victory whoop and dug into his food. He threw a wryly glance at a grinning Kankuro before gesturing for his plate.

He finished serving the other two before sitting down himself. There was silence as they ate, punctuated by the odd noises Naruto usually made. But Gaara's empty seat was beginning to really worry him. The red-haired young man should have been back by now; he was the fastest of all of the kids. He noticed, as the meal began to wind down, that even Temari was beginning to look worried as well, and shot a concerned look out the window.

Kankuro was looking at his brother's empty seat with a furrowed brow, before turning to look at Iruka. "Where is Gaara, anyway?"

"Found some disabled traps by the manor when we were hunting earlier," Iruka told him. "He decided to check all of them, even the ones in the valley."

Kankuro frowned. "When was this?" Beside him, Naruto obliviously continued eating.

"A quarter away from sundown," Iruka replied.

"He should have been back by now!" He said, worry creasing his face. Naruto paused, looking around at the three of them.

"But it takes a while, doesn't it?" He asked, unsure. "I mean, Gaara has tons of traps. And he would have to make sure in checking some of them, he wouldn't trigger any of the others."

The other three starred at him. He turned red slightly under their gazes. "Well, I was with him when he was setting up some of them, and he kept telling me to watch where I was going."

Kankuro smiled slightly, though there was still a tense edge to it. "I bet he had to reset them a hundred times because of you."

Naruto's cheeks flared in embarrassment even as he glared at Kankuro.

Iruka looked to Temari, who was frowning in worry. She returned the gaze, and Iruka knew she was thinking the same thing: this was too long, even for Gaara.

"I don't think tonight is a good night for crayfish hunting," he told her slowly.

"_What_?!"

All three winced at Naruto's incredulous shout. His face was frozen in a mask of stunned disbelief as he looked at Iruka, whose expression had become stern, before he turned pleading eyes on Temari. Teeth gnawing at her lower lip, she looked regretful. His gaze grew even more disbelieving as he realized she wasn't even going to attempt to argue with Iruka.

"But... you _promised_!" He said, anger beginning to creep into his voice. "You said you would cook some for my birthday!"

She lifted her hands in a placating gesture, smiling weakly. "I know I did, Naruto, and I'm sorry. But I already told Iruka we wouldn't leave until Gaara got back. And it is pretty late already, and the river isn't close at all. But we'll go tomorrow, alright?"

"_No!_ You promised tonight, why can't we go _tonight_?!" The hurt in his voice and on his face made Temari wince, and she sent Iruka a pleading look.

"It is _not safe_, Naruto!" Iruka told him sharply. "She's already said tomorrow, so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow!"

"But I can protect myself!" he argued fiercely, leaning over the table to glare at Iruka. "I'm not a kid anymore!"

Iruka met the young boy's glare with one of his own. "You can't even keep yourself hidden, how do you think you can protect yourself? Or Temari?! You could both end up _dead_!"

Iruka knew, as soon as the words left his mouth, that he had gone too far. Naruto, his face draining of color, gaped at him. He looked more hurt, more upset, than the brown-haired man had ever seen him. Both Temari and Kankuro were as still as statues. As Iruka tried to say something, an apology possibly, Naruto snarled at him and ran out of the room. The sound of his footsteps on the stairs and then the boom of a door slamming shut echoed in the silent room.

"That was too harsh, Iruka," Temari said, frowning at him.

He said nothing, unfocused eyes staring down at his plate.

"I'll clean off the table," Kankuro offered to the silence.

Temari nodded in relief and stood up. Walking by Iruka, she paused and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you're going to apologize, you should wait until he's calmed down some. He'd probably throw a shoe at you."

Her words stirred him, and he offered her a wan smile. "I know that. I was just thinking... maybe I should go down instead. Find some for him."

Kankuro snorted, stacking pots and plates together. "The whole point of him going, Iruka, was him going. We barely let him wander off as is; it's no wonder he's always sneaking off to the library."

"But he's still not _ready_..." Iruka mumbled, looking pensively towards the dining room door.

"I wouldn't know about that," Temari replied, exchanging a glance with her brother. "I mean, he is _sneaking_ off to the library, and we don't know he's gone until it's time for the chores to get done."

Iruka looked at her, startled, before turning a questioning glance to Kankuro.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I know, he hasn't shown any kind of stealth when we spar. But Temari's right; we're not catching him sneaking out. It could be that he just doesn't feel the need to be stealthy when he's sparring with me."

"All of your goading probably doesn't help, either, Kankuro," she said with a bit of acid in her voice. "You get him too angry to think." He shrugged, grinning sheepishly.

"Probably."

But Iruka was thoughtful. "Maybe... maybe I'll take him hunting with Gaara and I tomorrow. To make up for tonight."

"He'd really like that," Temari said, pleased. Kankuro nodded his approval.

Iruka looked up at the ceiling, before standing. "I'll go up in a little while to tell him. I'll be in my study till then, Temari. Let me know when Gaara gets back."

She nodded at him as he walked out of the room.

The evening drifted onward. Temari went out to train while Kankuro finished cleaning off the table. He debated making Naruto come back down to do the dinner dishes, which was his normal evening chore, but figured he had been through enough that night. He also thought it would be nice to have a chance to train on his own the next day; since Iruka had assigned Naruto to him, he had had precious little chance to spar on his own. As he finished the dishes, he looked out the window and noticed that Iruka had joined the blonde girl in sparring. Putting away the last of the dishes, he took a moment to stretch his back, amused by the lack of sound from upstairs. He suspected that Naruto had snuck out again. He wondered if that had occurred to Iruka yet.

Probably not. The thought made Kankuro grin.

Though the grin was wiped off of his face the moment he saw a wounded Gaara pop up right next to Iruka.

-**X**-

The blond haired boy stood up from his spot in front of the fire place. He grinned at the blaze in front of him, proud of the fact that he hadn't needed to use anything more than a jutsu.

'_Take that, Kankuro!_' he thought to himself, smugly. The beat down he had given the other boy earlier had felt good, real good, even if it had been completely mutual. It still riled him, though, that Iruka thought he was completely incapable of taking care of himself yet. He wasn't that much younger than the rest of them! He could fight on par with Kankuro, yet Iruka still treated him like a child.

Naruto walked over to the bookcase, peering at the bindings on all of the books. Some had words imprinted on them, but most of the bindings were blank. Naruto, however, didn't need titles to know which books contained what stories, which histories; he had read through them so many times he could probably find what he wanted blindfolded. Picking one, he walked over to the solitary chair and moved it near the fire. Curling up, he opened the book.

Fingers touched the paper, and he smiled wistfully, remembering old reading lessons. Iruka had taught all four of them to read and write, off of papers scavenged from soldier camps and towns. In some of the abandoned places, they had found books. Iruka had been forced to throw a good deal away, but Naruto had managed to keep a couple. He suspected Temari had done the same.

And then Iruka had led them to this house, and Naruto thought he had found a paradise.

There was so much here! In the first few months, many of the books had been brought to the outlying house so they could read them. Many were familiar to Iruka, and he told them some of the details that weren't present inside. It had been great, but then Iruka's focus had changed and he began to emphasize training and becoming better fighters. Slowly, the books were brought back, and the only ones left to read at their house were training manuals. Iruka said they would have time for frivolous reading later, once they were strong enough. But Naruto didn't care, so he started to sneak out.

He had been caught all the time at first. Kankuro would laugh at him, from where he had fallen in the bushes beneath his window. Iruka would scold him for attempting to skip off his chores. Gaara would glare, and Temari would give him an exasperated look before spraying him with a water jutsu. But as he worked on his stealth, he became more adept at avoiding their detection. Finally, about three weeks ago, he had finally been able to sneak out without even alerting Gaara.

And Iruka told him he didn't know how to hide! Ha! He never bothered with Kankuro because he wanted the older boy to know who was kicking his ass.

The short blond nodded to himself, before looking back at his book. He gave a happy sigh before sinking down into the chair and letting the stories take him to a better place.

Later, when he heard the hinges squeal, he knew he had been gone for a long time. The fire was nearly out, and his eyes were tired from the strain. Rubbing them, he glared blearily at the opening door.

"I know, I know Kankuro! I need to get home before Iruka gets any madder than he already..."

But he stopped speaking when he saw that instead of Kankuro, it was some dark haired boy he didn't know.

-**TBC**-

_Ending Notes_: For those of you who are reading this story for the first time, hello and thank you! I appreciate the time you put in to read it, and hope you will return for future chapters. I am open to criticism, though at the same time I also consider myself open to argue interpretation. But should it seem defensive, it probably is, yet I do not mean to be mean. New points will always be considered, and if my reasons to back up my claims seem stupid, feel free to tell me so. And for those of you remember this story from many years ago, welcome back and I thank you even more! I find it amazing that anyone would keep track of this in hopes that it would be updated for so long, and that you have I find humbling. For everyone, expect chapters to be put up at about 1 every month or two. It takes me a while to write, and I have other concerns besides the fic, for which I won't apologize because these are the sorts of responsibilities I am sure many of you can understand. Though this repost comes 6 months later than I meant it to, I am committed to keeping the story on track.

The story itself will be quite long. I can only hope that you all will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.


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